It’s really quite dumb that the Spanish LFP decided to hold the Supercopa de España in Saudi Arabia. Almost as dumb as Valencia keeper Jaume Doménech after a clever Toni Kroos olimpico as Real Madrid won 3-1 on Wednesday.
Though they’re third and fifth in the Premier League, the gulf between Manchester City and Manchester United is vast. City is 15 points ahead of its rival in the league and now two goals ahead after a 3-1 victory over United in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinals on Tuesday at Old Trafford.
Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo opened 2020 in fine style following a 4-0 beatdown of Cagliari on Monday with Ronaldo featuring in all four goals. The Portuguese legend scored a hat-trick and provided an assist — all in the second half — as Juve opened up a three-point lead at the top of Serie A ahead of Monday's late encounter between Inter and Napoli.
An FA Cup Third Round Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton was decided by a wonder goal from 18-year-old Reds midfielder Curtis Jones on Sunday. Although Liverpool had the support of Anfield behind them, Jürgen Klopp fielded a much younger and less experienced side than his counterpart Carlo Ancelotti.
Back in January of 2010, Mario Balotelli was a 19-year-old phenom clashing daily with José Mourinho in the midst of Inter Milan’s treble-winning season. On Jan. 6 of that year, Balotelli scored Serie A’s first goal of the decade when providing the game-winning strike against Chievo Verona in the 12th minute. It was his fifth goal of the 2009-10 league campaign.
Back in June after he had just watched England lose 3-1 to the Netherlands in the UEFA Nations League semifinals, little-known striker Tom Pope talked shit about defender John Stones’ performance for the Three Lions, calling him weak as piss.
Seven months later, Pope backed up those words.
Pope, a 34-year-old forward who plays for Port Vale in League Two, scored in his first opportunity to go up against John Stones in an FA Cup third-round match with Manchester City.
It’s hard to believe it’s been more than 12 years since Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy went at an overzealous reporter by yelling: “I’m a man; I’m 40!” Back in 2007, Aaron Wilbraham was a spry young man in his 20s.
On Saturday, Wilbraham became a man.
At the youthful age of 40, Rochdale’s Aaron Wilbraham netted a late equalizer to record a surprising 1-1 draw with Newcastle United on Saturday at Crown Oil Arena. The League One side earned a replay at St. James’ Park in the third round of the FA Cup.
The statistic for goals in a calendar year is obviously a strange one since it combines feats from two separate seasons (the back-half of one campaign and the first half of the next), which isn’t really a useful metric. However, when looking at the top goal scorers from each calendar year over the past decade, there are a few interesting trends which speak volumes about the 2010s.
Southampton forward Danny Ings required just 17 minutes of action in 2020 to begin utterly embarrassing defenders. In Wednesday's 1-0 victory over Tottenham — which saw the Saints move up to 12th place on 25 points — Ings kept up his red-hot form with a goal which is sure to leave Toby Alderweireld with nightmares.
Fresh off cementing their reputation as the third-best team in the world, Rayados have captured the 2019 Liga MX Apertura title after a brilliant performance inside the house of the beast.